240 GALLING. TETRAONID.E. 



and the Cock of the Plains of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains being scarcely inferior to the Turkey in 

 dimensions. It is thus characterized : the beak is 

 short, very strong, and arched from the base to the 

 tip ; the nostrils are situated on each side of the 

 base, partly hidden by an arched scale, and small 

 close-set feathers. A naked skin above the eyes, 

 of a bright scarlet colour; enlarging in spring. 

 Wings short, rounded, and hollow : tail of sixteen 

 feathers, very ample, and expanding. Feet naked, 

 with the edges of the toes toothed ; the tarsi 

 feathered. 



The dense pine-forest, the wild plain, the moun- 

 tain and the barren rock, the moorland and the 

 heath, are the resorts of the true Grouse. The 

 northern part of our own Island, in common with 

 the colder regions of Scandinavia and Russia, 

 formerly produced, in considerable abundance, the 

 most magnificent species known, the Capercailzie, 

 or Cock of the Wood (Tetrao urogallus, LINN.) ; 

 but his size, beauty, imposing appearance, and 

 savoury flesh long ago caused his extermination 

 from our woods. The last specimen is recorded to 

 have been killed in Scotland about seventy years 

 ago. By the exertions of some of the Scottish 

 nobility, however, this fine bird seems likely to 

 become again a wild denizen of our northern 

 woods. In particular, Lord Breadalbane procured 

 from Sweden at great expense, in the year 1838 

 and the early part of 1839, forty-four adult Ca- 

 percailzie, the majority of which were hens. A 

 portion of these were put into a large aviary, and 

 others turned out into the forest, and we are in- 

 formed that both divisions succeeded, and that 

 seventy-nine young birds were known to be 



